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EMINISCENCES 



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HREE SCORE AND TEN 



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THREESCORE AND TEN 



IN RETROSPECT 



I. Boyhood Days ; II. Reminiscences of 

school experiences from twenty 

to seventy-t^vo 



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BY 



J. W. HOOPE 





SYRACUSE, N. Y. 



C. W. BARDEEN, PUBLISHER 
1900 



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NOTE BY THE PUBLISHER 



I have known Mr. Hooper for more than 
twenty-five years. During this time his work 
has been in the immediate vicinity of Syracuse, 
and I have seen him frequently, in school and 
out. He is not only a man of scrupulous verac- 
ity, who would cut off his right hand sooner than 
make an intentional mistatement, but he is also 
characteristically methodical and accurate, — as 
likely as any man I ever knew to be exact in 
his memory of incidents that happened even 
fifty years ago. 

This narrative therefore seems to me of decided 
historical value. Many of the incidents here 
given he had told me from time to time, and it 
was at my suggestion that he gathered here 
these reminiscences of a long, an honorable, and 
a useful career. There are few living men able 
to give us truthful pictures of the school and 
home life of half a century ago, and the com- 
munity should be grateful to Mr. Hooper for thus 
putting on record much that otherwise would 
have been forgotten and lost. 

C. W. BARDEEN 

Syracuse, April 21, 1900 

(5) 



CONTENTS 

Chapter Page 

I. Early Years, 1827-1837 9 

II. An Interrupted Journey, 1838 IB 

III. A Long and Hungry Tramp, 1838.... 17 

IV. Asa Brickmaker, 1839-1847 20 

V. My First School, 1847 24 

VI. ACaseof Discipline, 1847 27 

VII. New York Country Life in 1847 29 

VIIL In Business Again, 1847 34 

IX. The Waterbury District, 1847-9 36 

X. Another Case of Discipline, 1849 41 

XL Tobacco in School, 1852 48 

XIL In Various Schools, 1853-1872 50 

XIII. A School Commissioner, 1873-8 54 

XIV. Teachers Associations 57 

XV. PrincipalatSolvay, 1879-1884 60 

XVI. Final Experiences as a Teacher, 

1884-9 62 

XVII. Attendance and Tardiness 65 

XVIII. Whispering 69 

XIX. Corporal Punishment 71 

XX. Eesponsibility of the Teacher 74 

(7) 



Three Score and Ten Years in Retrospect 



CHAPTER I 
Early Years, 1827-1837 

I was born in Livingston County, N. Y. , July 
5, 1827. 

My parents both died before I was eight years 
old. I found a home with a cousin in St. Law- 
rence county. I think my cousin was a good 
man ; but, unfortunately for me, I soon fell into 
disfavor with his wife, who seemed to improve 
every opportunity to make my life unpleasant. 
Two incidents will be sufficient to indicate some- 
thing of the means to which she resorted. 

My cousin was in the habit of making from 
one to two thousand pounds of maple sugar 
every spring, and on account my faithful work 
he had promised me the last run of sap for my 
own. I should gather it, boil it down to syrup, 
take it to the house, his wife would convert it 
into sugar, the sugar should be sold and all the 
money should be mine. 

I think I never experienced more pleasure than 
during the two weeks that foUowed, in building 

^9 



10 Early Years, 1827-1837 

air castles and contemplating what I would buy 
with the money that would come from the sale 
of that sugar. I gathered the sap, boiled it 
down, and found myself in possession of two 
buckets full of nice maple syrup. I put my 
neck-yoke on and carried the syrup carefully 
half a mile to the house. It was put into art 
iron kettle, the kettle was hung on the crane 
and swung into its place over the kitchen fire. 
Through neglect of my cousin's wife it was 
boiled too long. It was burned and worthless ; 
and my air castles fell to the ground. 

The family had received an invitation to a pig 
party to be given at a neighbor's house that eve- 
ning. Pig parties were quite common in St. 
Lawrence county in those days. Whenever a 
pig was killed the neighbors were invited in to 
eat fresh pork. It was thought best for me to 
remain at home and look after the fire. The 
sugar had been turned from the kettle, but quite 
a little was left on its sides, and I thought I 
would scrape the kettle and eat a little burned 
sugar. Getting an iron spoon. I scraped off a 
good spoonful and put it into my mouth. Judge 
of my surprise and indignation when I realized 
that the woman who had just burned up my 
sugar had sprinkled fine-cut tobacco over the 
sides and bottom of the kettle. I survived, but 
for an hour I was very sick. 



My Cousin's Wife and Pails of Water 11 

It was a part of my regular work to bring 
water for washing from a brook nearly half a 
mile away. So on a Monday morning I donned 
my neck-yoke and went for water. Filling the 
pails and staggering under the heavy weight, 
it was only after frequent resting that I reached 
the house. As I passed through the gate I 
noticed my cousin's wife at the wash-tub in the 
yard. Before I reached where she was, I 
stumbled under the heavy load, and as I fell 
much of the water dashed over me. Before I 
had time to rise to my feet a heavy blow on the 
side of my head knocked me back on the ground, 
and after having my ears well boxed, the neck- 
yoke was put (not very gently) upon my shoulders 
and I was ordered back after water. I went 
back to the brook, sat the pails carefully down on 
the bank, laid the neck-yoke across them, and 
skipped across the lots, crying ; and I have ever 
since imagined those pails still standing by the 
brook, and my cousin's wife turned into a pillar 
of salt, standing by her wash-tub in the yard, 
waiting for the water. 

I was now ten years old, and I wish right here 
to ask the young boys and girls who may read 
this s'ory a few questions. Do you appreciate 
your home ? Do you know what it is to have 
kind friends who are interested in your education 
and your success in life? Do you have, down 



12 Early Years, 182Y-1836 

deep in your heart, a pure, lasting, devoted, 
tender love for the precious mother, who is 
spending her life in trying to build you up in 
character and make of you true, loyal girls and 
boys, who shall reflect honor upon your parents 
and friends ? I knew none of these privileges, 
but I had endured enough from my cousin's 
wife ; and while she was waiting on that Monday 
morning for me to come with the water, I was 
getting several miles away, seeking for another 
place to live. 



CHAPTER II 
An Interrupted Journey, 1838 



I succeeded in finding a place where I could 
work for my board and go to school. This was 
a good home, and I think I received as good 
treatment as I deserved, for I imagine I was 
becoming a tough boy. 

About a year later, while in my eleventh 
year, a change seemed to come over me. I began 
to have some desire to obtain an education, 
I became uneasy, I wanted something, and 
could not tell what. About this time, at a pro- 
tracted meeting, I experienced religion and united 
with the Baptist church at Sprague's Corners, on 
the line of Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties. 

Although I tried to live a religious life, I was 
not satisfied. This feeling of discontent grew 
upon me until on the 10th day of November, 
1838, at about 8 o'clock in the evening, I put a 
few articles of clothing into a handkerchief, tied 
it up and went out into the darkness. I have 
never forgotten that long, dark, dreary night. 
I was naturally timid, and frightened at every- 
thing I saw. The country was then compara- 
tively new and the forests contained many wild 

(13) 



14 An Interrupted Journey, 1838 

animals ; yet I was impelled to go on by some irre- 
sistible will-power. I was thioly clad, but that 
same Hand that helped me amid greater dangers 
in the near future sustained and kept me alive on 
that cold November night. 

I had no thought of turning back. When I 
came to the deep forests, I would start on a run 
and never lessen the speed until I had reached 
the open country. 

On the morning of the 11th of November I 
hired out to a farmer somewhere near Carthage 
in Jefferson county. I was to husk corn a 
month, for which I was to receive five dollars 
and my board. I fulfilled my contract, took my 
five dollars, went to Sacketts Harbor, and, after 
buying me a pair of shoes and some mittens, I 
paid the rest of my money for a passage on a 
steam boat to Rochester, intending to go to my 
uncle's home at Bergen Corners, Genesee county. 

Soon after leaving port, December 12, we were 
struck by a storm of Avind and snow that seemed 
for a time to threaten the destruction of the 
boat. All day the captain tried to reach port at 
Oswego, which he succeeded in doing at about 
nine o'clock in the evening. I was told that the 
boat would go no farther for several days, as it 
needed to be repaired. 

I soon noticed that the fires were burning 
down, and the lights were being extinguished. 



A Solemn Eesolution 15 

I started up street in the city, hoping that I might 
find some place to keep warm. 

At about ten o'clock that night I stood upon 
the platform of a public house in Oswego. And 
my young friends, that was the grandest plat- 
form that I ever stood upon! My feet never 
stood in a place more sacred 1 I believe the spirit 
of my christian mother was right beside her 
boy ! I believe an angel was hovering over me ! 

The lights in the public house had been ex- 
tinguished. It was intensely cold. My clothes 
were frozen from the water that had swashed 
upon me while on board the boat in the terrible 
wind. The snow was blowing around me. I 
had eaten no dinner, no supper. I had no money, 
and not a friend to go to. I had reached a crisis 
in my life ! I was afraid I should freeze. 

As I stood there in the darkness, these words 
came to me with great power. I do not know 
whether I spoke in an audible voice or not, but 
I said, " I will earn an honest living^ and I ivill 
perish before I will beg. ' ' 

I started at once for the boat. I tried door 
after door and found them locked. I finally 
opened a door leading down a dark gang- way. 
Feeling for a door at the foot of the stairs I 
opened into the sailor's cabin. They had a warm 
room, had their table spread, and were playing 
cards. They noticed that I was nearly frozen, 



16 An Interrupted Journey, 1838 

and recognizing me as a passenger on board the 
boat, they gave me a warm berth. 

In the morning, I went to the captain, told 
him my circumstances, reminding him that I 
had a ticket from Sacketts Harbor to Eochester, 
and as the boat was to be laid up for repairs I 
thought he should pay me back a part of my 
money. The only satisfaction that I received 
was the privilege of riding to Rochester if I 
waited until the boat went. 

It had now been twenty-four hours since I 
had tasted food, but I had no more thought of 
asking for a meal than I had of cutting one of 
my fingers off. 



CHAPTER III 
A Long and Hungry Tramp, 1838 

I said to myself, ' ' I cannot wait for the boat, 
for I shall famish here, and I can but perish if I 
go afoot." Not expecting anything to eat until 
I should reach my uncle's house, ninety miles 
away, yet believing that I should in some way 
get through, I pushed out into the wind and 
snow. 

I was now suffering intensely for want of 
food. In passing an orchard a little out of the 
city, I saw a cluster of apples hanging from the 
limb of a tree. I soon found that, although 
frozen like rocks, they were not decayed. I 
filled my pockets and went on my way. I think 
I will not say what my experience was in eating 
those frozen apples, but I will say that I had not 
one morsel of food from about thirty hours be- 
fore I left the city of Oswego until I reached my 
uncle's house at Bergen, excepting frozen apples 
that I found in the orchards as I travelled along 
the roads. 

A little after dark that night as I was passing 
a country tavern I noticed a ladder reaching to 
a hay-loft over the shed. I climbed the ladder, 

(17) 



18 A Long and Hungry Tramp, 1838 



and burying myself as deep as I could in the 
hay I slept soundly until morning. Watching 
my opportunity to get on the street without be- 
ing seen, I commenced my second day's tramp. 

The strongest temptation that I had during 
my journey to break my pledge and ask for 
something to eat, was at the noon hour that day. 
The weather had cleared up and a farmer's fam- 
ily were eating their dinner. The sun was shin- 
ing a little warm, and the kitchen door was open. 
It seemed to me that I would be willing to take 
off the only coat I had and give it for a meal. 
I was famished for something to eat. It seemed 
to me that I must have food or I should perish. 
I said, " I will go to the open door and ask for a 
drink of water; perhaps they will ask me to 
eat." I received my glass of water but no 
further invitation ; and I went on my way. 

I will say right here that during the forty years 
that I sat at my own table no person ever came 
to my door hungry but he was fed. It made no 
difference whether he was drunk or sober, filthy 
or otherwise. If I believed he was hungry, he 
had something to eat ; and I have never seen the 
time when I would not be willing to go without 
my own dinner to feed even a hungry dog. 

My second day's experience was much like the 
first. After it had become dark, so no one would 
see me, I crept into a straw stack in a farmer's 



Among Friends at Last 19 

barn -yard, and, covering myself as best I could, 
I knew no more until morning. I was on the 
street before day-light, as I was sure if I was 
found in the man's barn- yard I should be arrested 
and sent to jail. 

I have never been able to tell much of my third 
day's journey. I have no recollection of having 
any desire for food. I passed through Eochester, 
went to the depot, and was directed to the rail- 
road track leading through Churchville and near 
to Bergen Corners. I imagine that I travelled 
that seventeen miles in less time than any other 
seventeen miles in my three days journey. 

I received a warm welcome at my uncle's, 
where, I was afterward told, I arrived about nine 
o'clock. They soon discovered that I was sick. 
A doctor was called and I was forced to tell them 
that I had been four days without food. 

Under the kindest of care I speedily recovered, 
and as soon as proper clothes could be procured 
I was sent to school. I spent the winter pleas- 
antly and was happy in my school work. The 
school closed in April and I told my uncle that I 
was going to find work. He said : ' ' Why not 
stay here, there is plenty of work here." I re- 
plied : ' ' No, I started out to earn my living 
among strangers and I am going. ' ' 



CHAPTER IV 
As A Brickmaker, 1839-1847 

I was now twelve years old, and started out 
the third time to face the world alone, — seeking 
for a home. But I was comfortably clad and 
had money in my pocket. 

Just at night on that day I engaged to a man 
to make brick at nine dollars a month. I was 
located a little north of Albion, Orleans county. 
This was destined to be my home for a number 
of years. I boarded with my employer and 
went to school in the winter ; and as the brick 
making season lasted but about six months of the 
year, I had a long time to go to school. I rapidly 
came to the front as a brick burner, and in a few 
years was receiving seventy-five dollars a month 
and my board. 

I remained with this man five years, when I 
was offered such inducements to take charge of 
a large manufactory in Geneva that I was obliged 
to accept. I remained in Geneva two seasons, 
going back to my old school in the fall. 

I was now in my twentieth year and I had a 
great desire to go back and visit the scenes of my 
early boyhood, — to go into the old log house from 
which I went out into the darkness on that 
November night eight years before. I will say 

(20) 



The Sport of Fifty Years Ago 21 

that I kept clear of that other place, where I 
got mj ears boxed, for fear I should see that 
woman standing by her wash-tub, and she would 
want to know where those pails of water were. 

I had been at my old home but a day or two 
when I received application from a board of 
trustees to teach their winter school. I said, yes ; 
if I can get a certificate. As they wanted the 
school to begin the next Monday they told me 
to go on with the school and they would see the 
town superintendent about the license. A few 
days later I received my license and the school 
went on all right. 

Before speaking of my experience as a teach- 
er, I would like to review that part of my life 
from fourteen to twenty years. I want the 
young men and the young ladies who may read 
this book to realize that I am drawing a truth- 
ful portrait of my life from the age of nine years, 
when I commenced to paddle my own canoe, un- 
til I was twenty. I would not try to leave an 
impression that I was all goodness, as I grew up 
to young manhood, that I was very meek, that 
I never did anything wrong, that I was down in 
the corner by the fireplace every evening study- 
ing my lessons. 

Oh ! no ! no ! Such a nature as mine could not 
remain quiet. If there was mischief going on 
in the neighborhood I knew it and was in it, 



22 As A Brickmaker, 1839-1847 

and I never fetched up in the rear. If a couple 
were married they must have a serenade. If a 
young man went to visit his lady-love he usually 
reahzed when he started to go home that the boys 
had been around. Eem ember that this was more 
than fifty years ago, and many things that were 
thought little of then would be all wrong now. 

As I remember it now, we were somewhat 
wild, yet I believe there was a gentlemanly prin- 
ciple manifested in our lives. We knew when 
it was time for fun and when it was time to be 
quiet and gentlemanly in our deportment. 

As to our habits, the society in which I mingled 
used to play cards, and I soon become so fascin- 
ated with the game that I would rather play 
cards all night than to sleep. One night I retired 
at an early morning hour, and before sleeping I 
thought the matter over and came to the con- 
clusion that I was a fool to spend my nights in 
card playing, and become so excited over the 
game that I could not sleep even after I retired. 
I finally said to myself " I ivill never play another 
game of cards in my life.^^ And I never have. 

Again I was carried away with what we call 
now "yellow covered literature", or cheap 
novels. I do not condemn novel reading. It is 
the low, trashy, simple, love-sick stories that 
are flooding the most of our news-rooms and fly- 
ing all over the land, that I condemn. This is 



Novel-Eeading 23 

the kind of reading that will be selected by most 
of our young people if unrestrained by their 
parents; a kind of reading that weakens the 
intellect and destroys a taste for histories or 
other solid reading. This is the kind of reading 
that I enjoyed; and on a certain night after 
reading until near the morning hour, before 
sleeping I came to my senses, and said to my- 
self, ' ' I will never read another love-sick novel 
in my life. ' ' And I neve?^ have. 

Many years ago I saw advertised and heard 
much said of " Roderick Hume", a novel writ- 
ten and published by C. W, Bardeen of Syracuse. 
I said, it is a novel and I do not care to read it ; 
and it was only a fe ,v years ago that I was in- 
duced to read it. I will say that my prejudice 
against the reading of a certain kind of novels 
vanished. I think I was made a better man and 
a better teacher by the reading of that book, 
first by its clearness and freshness; second by 
the simplicity and purity of the language; and 
third by the plot itself, so entertaining, so natural, 
so true to life. Just what one would expect 
would happen comes to pass all the way through. 

Parents, see that each of your girls and boys 
has a library case, and let it be gradually filled 
with the latest and best standard books. Your 
children will grow not only into a hahit of read- 
ing but into a habit of reading good literature. 



CHAPTEE V 
My First School, 1847 

Now, my friends, let me take you back fifty- 
two years to a little log school- house a few miles 
from Antwerp, in Jefferson county, near the 
line of St. Lawrence county, where I was en- 
gaged in teaching my first school. My wages 
were fourteen dollars a mouth, and I was to 
board around. 

This boarding around was jolly fun if one en- 
joyed it ; but I confess I did not enjoy it as well 
as perhaps some others would. For instance, 
the schoolmaster was a very distinguished indi- 
vidual ; he must have the best the house afforded, 
and at bed time he was ushered into the spare 
room off the parlor, with a zero atmosphere. 
We had good board and a plenty, consisting 
largely of rye-and-indian bread, good butter, 
potatoes, pork or mutton, boiled cider apple 
sauce, and delicious mince pies. 

The school-house was comfortable. Wherever 
the chinking between the logs had become loose 
mud-mortar had been used to plaster it up, and 
every crevice had been closed. A large open fire- 
place graced one side of the room. Pegs had 

(24) 



The School of Fifty Years ago 25 

been driven into the logs; and slabs reversed, 
reaching around three sides of the room, served 
as desks. Slabs with pegs driven in for legs 
made pretty good seats and, of course, the pupils 
sat facing the wall, an advantage to the teacher 
that the modern school- room does not afford. 

We had plenty of good hard wood and lots of 
back-logs. The wood was cut four feet long, 
and in preparing it from the tree a length would 
often be found so knotty that it would not split 
easily and it was saved for a back-log. A log 
four feet long and from ten to fifteen inches in 
diameter was something of an affair to handle. 
But the teacher with the help of the boys could 
usually manage it, and the log was placed at the 
back of the fire-place, where it would last in 
cold weather about a week. The fire was built 
in front of the log, and the wood was held in 
place by large andirons. 

Now for the school. I found myself sur- 
rounded on Monday morning by forty or forty - 
five as bright, as intelligent-looking a class of 
boys and girls as I have I have ever met in school. 

I thought those young women, some of them 
as old as their master, dressed in their home- 
made plaids, were perfectly beautiful, and I have 
never had reason to change my mind. 

I am unable to find a full list of the books in 
use. I find the Old English reader, Daboll's 



26 My First School 

arithmetic, Webster's speller, and Kirkham's 
grammar. I do not remember to have used any 
geography. Om- writing books were composed 
of several sheets of fools-cap paper folded and 
sewn together by the mother or sister, and the 
master was expected to set the copies and mend 
the goose-quill pens. I think there was no chart 
or map of any description in the school-room. 
All from seven years old up were expected to read, 
write, speU, and cipher from the same text-book. 
The school was organized and ready for work. 
I think I never felt more proud than when stand- 
ing at my little home-made table in about the 
centre of the room, surrounded by that class of 
boys and girls. And, think of it, they called me 
master ! And I was their teacher. 



CHAPTEK VI 
A Case of Discipline, 1847 

I never felt more confidence in my ability to 
teach a school. I never felt less concern regard- 
ing the discipline. I knew I could manage the 
school, for I could see intelligence in nearly 
every countenance and knew the children were 
subject to discipline at home, and must know 
what gentlemanly and lady-like deportment was. 

But there are exceptions in nearly all schools. 
The trustee had told me that there was one boy 
who would give me trouble, and that they would 
probably have to turn him out, as they did not 
think I could manage him. They said he was 
very quarrelsome, and was fighting the other 
boys every few days. 

Of course I knew who the boy was. We 
had a few days of quiet, which gave me an op- 
portunity to study his character, and also to 
study the character of one or two others. 

I noticed that this "■ bully ", as he was called, 
was a large, somewhat green, good-natured boy, 
disposed to mind his own business if let alone. 
I also noticed that he was the butt of the jokes 
of two or three others, who lost no opportunity 
to annoy him. One in particular seemed to be 
the leader in making game of him. 

(27) 



28 A Case of Discipline 

I allowed the matter to go on, knowing it 
would come to a focus. This happened one day 
during the noon hour, when human endurance 
could stand it no longer. Thomas went at those 
three boys, and the result was they got so thor- 
oughly whipped that they begged to be let up ; 
and they came into the school room with what I 
supposed had been their usual complaint, that 
Tom had been pounding them. 

At the usual time I called the school to order 
and told Thomas to rise. He stood up. Now I 
believe nearly every one in that room had sym- 
pathy for him, and they believed he was going to 
be punished, as he had been before on similar 
occasions. While Thomas stood at his seat I 
told the other three boys to step out on the floor, 
and I went at that ring-leader of the three with 
a good hickory ruler. When I was through 
with him, he had promised to obey every rule of 
the school. I then said to Thomas : " If this boy 
annoys you any more, if he insults you until 
you cannot endure it any longer, you go at him 
again and give him a good whipping, and when 
he comes in I will give him another. Between 
you and me I think we can teach him to mind 
his own business and let you alone. You are all 
excused. ' ' 

Discipline was established and there was no 
more occasion for punishing during the four 
months that I taught that school. 



CHAPTEK VII 
New York Country Life in 1847 

As to social enjoyment, I have never been 
with a class of school boys and girls who loved 
fun better than they, and I have never known 
a class who could get more enjoyment out of a 
twenty- minute recess or the noon hour intermis- 
sion. The character of the games was some- 
times a little questionable, but as they never tres- 
passed upon morality I seldom interfered. 

The snow lay for many weeks from three to 
four feet deep on a level. Many a morning 
when the snow was drifting on arriving at the 
school-house I was obhged to shovel the snow 
away from the windows to let in light. I have 
never seen such perseverance manifested in get- 
ting to school under difficulties. Many times 
when it was impossible for teams to get through 
the drifts, I have seen twelve or fifteen boys and 
girls coming from different directions, wallow- 
ing in Indian file through the snow. Of course 
they were all dressed for the occasion and I do 
not know that one of them ever took cold. 

I will now give you a sample of a noon-time 
exercise. There was a series of meetings being 
held a few miles away, and great interest was 

(29) 



30 New York Country Life in 1847 

manifested. Many of the older pupils attended. 
It became quite common for them to advertise a 
meeting of their own to be held at a certain 
stump some distance from the school-room, at 
the noon hour. Nearly or quite all of the older 
pupils would hasten to eat their dinner, and 
away they would go to attend the meeting. The 
minister would mount the stump and conduct as 
regular a prayer meeting as one ever attended. 
At the end came the speaking, and usually some 
one had experienced religion and must be bap- 
tized. The whole congregation then moved out 
a little into the deeper snow and the candidate 
was as formally immersed in snow as ever one 
was in water. Everything was conducted in an 
orderly way, and to some I think it was real. 

About once a week, when the weather and 
going were suitable, we must have a spelling 
school, or we must visit some other spelling 
school held in one of the surrounding districts. 

I remember on one occasion we had received 
an invitation to a spelling school over the hills, 
about three miles away. Two of the young men 
put their teams together, a four-horse rig waited 
at the school-house, and we were soon climbing 
that immense hill. 

We had just had our January thaw. In the 
midst of the thaw the weather suddenly became 
very cold ; and as a result a thick, strong, slippery 



A Slide without Sleds 31 

crust was formed on the snow. Just over the 
brow of the long steep hill we found the sleigh 
tracks led into the field, as the drifts in the road 
had not been shovelled out. Our team was a lit- 
tle fractious, and as we turned into the field the 
sleigh, with its load of forty girls and boys 
went over upon the crust, on the lower side. As 
I said, the crust was very steep and slippery and 
we were helpless. There was nothing for us to 
do but to go to the foot of that hill as gracefully 
as we could. A few lodged against the stumps, 
two or three reached the street fence, but nearly 
all fetched up in the valley below. 

Reader, did you ever ride down hill with the 
girls without a handsled ? It is jolly fun to ride 
with them on a handsled, but I tell you it's a 
hundred times jollier to ride without one. The 
girls won't generally ride with you if you have 
no handsled, but on this occasion they were 
rather obliged to, by force of circumstances. It 
might be a point to be settled in such condition 
whether it would be proper for you to sit in the 
girl's lap or for her to sit in yours, but in our 
case there was not much time to discuss that 
matter, so we each chose our own position; 
some went feet first, some went head first, and 
some took it sidewise. The main thing was to 
keep going, which I assure you we did. 

I won't trouble you with a detailed account of 



32 New York Country Life in 1847 

our tribulations in climbing that hill to where 
our sleigh was waiting. We climbed mostly in 
couples. Occasionally a couple would drop out 
of sight, we would see a descending streak in 
the darkness, and presently they would land at 
the bottom. But finally we succeeded in reach- 
ing the sleigh, but the time was reported as 
quarter past nine and it was voted that we go 
home. 

One more incident, a result of boarding round, 
will close the history of my first winter of teach- 
ing school. 

We usually spent a week in a place and I spent 
a week with a family where I found six young 
children. The family seemed quite poor. The 
little log house had three rooms on the first floor, 
kitchen, parlor, and bedroom and of course, I 
occupied the bedroom. The second floor was 
composed of loose boards laid down but not fas- 
tened. They had warped so that some of them 
seemed to rest almost on their edges. In fact 
there was little to prevent one in the lower room 
from seeing into the upper or from the upper 
room into the lower. It seemed to me that all 
of those six children occupied the room directly 
over mine. 

But presently we all settled down, and the 
snoring indicated that the household were asleep. 
I rested well, but tribulation came in the morn- 



Boarding around 33 

ing. I had placed my boots in a convenient 
place on the floor, and laid my socks carefully 
on the boots. I was somewhat surprised, as I 
was about to draw on my socks, to find they 
were wet ; and also that water had leaked into 
my boots. I said, ' ' Surely it must have rained 
in the night," and the roof leaking, the water 
has dripped clear down through onto my boots. 
' ' Queer ! Queer ! Queer ! " I said to myself, and 
stepping to the window I could see no appearance 
of its having rained. 

I drew on my socks, but very soon learned 
that, as the boots fitted a little tight, I could not 
draw them on over wet socks ; so I put the socks 
into my pocket, drew on the boots, went out to 
breakfast, went to the school-house, readjusted 
my socks and boots, and was ready for the day's 
work. I will say that the weather was dry all 
the rest of the week and as I took the precau- 
tion to put my boots under the bed every night, 
they were always dry in the morning. 

Oh my friends ! It is fun to board round if 
you enjoy it. 




CHAPTER VIII 
In Business again 

In the spring of 1847 I entered into partner- 
ship with Mr. E. B. Hinsdell, to make brick. 
We were located about three miles north of 
Salina on the Brewerton plank road, at what 
was then called the Old Log Cabin place. It was 
at this time that I made the mistake of my hfe. 
I should have chosen teaching as my profession 
and fitted myself for it, but I could not see that 
teaching was my work ; or rather, I would not 
see it, for I think it was clearly made known to 
me that I ought to finish my education, thus 
fitting myself for teaching. I could earn high 
wages during a part of the year, and put the 
rest of my time into college work, and in a few 
years come out a college graduate. I knew this, 
but my ambition to get money overcame my 
desire for a higher education. 

For a few years I made money, but there came 
a time when I realized my mistake. I had con- 
tracted for the delivery of large quantities of 
building brick in Syracuse, and, with ten labor- 
ing men in my employ, not one of whom knew 
anything of burning brick, I was taken sick from 

(34) 



In Business again 35 

overwork, and did not recover until near the end 
of the brickmaking season. On looking about 
after my recovery I found the few thousand dol- 
lars that I had saved had been swept away, 
a.nd I was broken in health and poor. 

But I was not standing alone. My noble wife, 
who had come to me two years before, stood right 
at my side ; and her words of encouragement, her 
comforting influence, her christian confidence 
and trust in Him who doeth all things well, be- 
came an inspiration to me. I realized that He 
in whom I thought I trusted knew better than 
I what I ought to have done when I refused to 
follow my impressions of duty. 

I will say before closing this chapter, that we 
were content to start again at the foot of the 
ladder, and by prudence, industry, and continu- 
ous climbing, in a few years we found ourselves 
in comfortable circumstances again. 



CHAPTER IX 
The Waterbury District, 1847-9 

It is the design of this narrative to deal more 
particularly with matters relating to my school 
experience. So I will ask you to go back with 
me to the fall of 1847, when I contracted to teach 
my first school in Onondaga county. This school 
is situated about one mile north of Liverpool in 
the town of Clay. We called it the Waterbury 
district. 

The next thing after securing a school was to 
get a license to teach it. I thought if the trus- 
tees would only be so kind as to get a license for 
me, as they did over in Jefferson county, it would 
be very convenient ; but teachers cannot always 
rely upon trustees to procure their certificates 
for them, so it was evident to me that I would 
have to face the fire alone. 

I learned that the town superintendent for the 
town of Clay was Dr. J. F. Johnson, and that he 
lived at Clay Corners, six miles away. I knew 
by the name that he was a very learned man, 
and a doctor too ! I wondered how many medi- 
cal questions he would ask me, and how much I 
would have to know of physiology and hygiene, 

(36) 



Getting a Teacher's License 37 

Then I knew there was another word connected 
with physiology but could not remember it. I 
knew it referred to the cutting up of the body 
after a person is dead. I hoped he would not ask 
me about that word. 

I started very early in the morning after put- 
ting a lunch in my pocket, as I supposed the ex- 
amination would last all day, and perhaps two 
or three days. I could walk six miles in those 
days in about as short a time as a horse would 
travel that distance, so I went on foot. 

I found the doctor at the store and made known 
my errand. After we had talked fifteen or twenty 
minutes he said we would go over to his office. 
On arrival there he told me to be seated and he 
would return in a few minutes, and I soon saw 
him in his gig driving down the street. I waited 
nearly an hour for his return. 

To say I was angry would hardly express it. 
I had come six miles almost on a run to begin 
my examination early, so that I might finish 
and get home before dark. Nearly two hours had 
already passed and the examination had not 
commenced. 

But the doctor soon came into the office, filled 
and lighted his pipe, asked me if I would smoke, 
and began a conversation on matters and things 
in general which lasted about thirty minutes. 

He was then called to some other part of the 



38 The Waterbury District, 1847-9 

house, and I was left to wonder for another half 
hour why the examination did not commence. 
At length he returned, and after refilling and 
lighting his pipe he sat down to his desk and 
commenced to write. Again I said to myself, 
why don't the old fool begin the examination ? 
At the expiration of about five minutes he 
handed me a paper, saying he was satisfied that 
I could teach that school. That was my certifi- 
cate. The examination was ended while I was 
waiting for it to begin. 

I started to go, when the doctor said, " Oh, 
no, our dinner is just now ready, and we must 
have some dinner before you go. ' ' 

I think if I had lived where it was practicable, 
I would have employed Doctor Johnson as my 
family physician all the rest of my life ! 

I was living at the old log cabin on the Brew- 
ester plank road, and on Monday morning I 
started, armed with my certificate according to 
law, for my school. I had never seen the school- 
house, and you may imagine my disappointment 
when I found a httle dingy building, so old that 
it had settled into the ground and the clapboards 
were dropping off. The squeaky old door was 
not locked, and I opened it and entered in. 

A better state of things existed inside. I 
found a good stove, and plenty of good wood in 
the woodshed. The desks were fastened to the 



The Schoolhouse Burned 39 

wall and there were pretty good benches for 
seats. Some pictures, maps, and charts hung 
on the walls and altogether the old house looked 
better inside — much more encouraging. 

In referring to the registry of that year I find 
that seventy-four pupils were crowded into that 
little school- room. I have never taught a school 
that was easier to manage. The Dunham, Price, 
Weller, Vickery, FuUerton, Waterbury, Moshell, 
and Green families were represented by pupils 
who gave character to the school, and the disci- 
pline took care of itself. 

No marked event occurred to interfere with 
the school until eight days before the end of the 
term. A number of district meetings had been 
held to make arrangements for a new school- 
house, but had failed to get a favorable vote. 
An adjourned meeting was to be held on a Fri- 
day evening. On the afternoon of that same 
day a little girl jumped up and cried: "Oh! the 
school house is on fire! " Not a boy in that 
room would bring a pail of water. The school 
was called to order, the pupils were admonished 
to gather all their books, and by the tap of the 
bell they marched out in perfect order. Thus 
ended my first winter school in Onondaga county. 

During the summer the trustees came over 
and purchased brick for a new school-house. 
The present building was built, and I had the 



40 The Waterbury District, 1847-9 

pleasure of teaching my second winter in the 
new house. 

Perhaps the reader would hke to know more 
of my experience in boarding round. I will say 
I came to enjoy it pretty well. I had little diffi- 
culty in finding boarding places. I was in the 
habit of sending word about the middle of the 
week that I would like to board with a certain 
family next week. Usually it was all right. 
Sometimes, however, I would be requested to 
wait a couple of weeks until they had killed their 
hogs; or " until the beef critter was killed ", but 
usually if they were out of meat they would 
kill a sheep, and buck-w heat cakes with plenty 
of mutton and mutton gravy made pretty good 
living. 



CHAPTER X 
A Case of Discipline, 1849 

One instance of discipline in my third year's 
experience is perhaps worth teUing. My school 
was at Podunk. A large, fine class of girls and 
boys greeted me on Monday morning but I soon 
learned that it would require strong discipline to 
hold those girls and boys to such order as I 
wanted and would have in my school. 

It must be remembered that in those days 
teachers were expected to fight their way in 
maintaining order, more than they are now. 
The first questions that came into the minds of 
the boys as they came into the room on the first 
day of school, and looked upon the teacher the 
first time, were, How tall is he ? How much 
does he weigh ? Can we handle him ? They 
made no allowance for moral force. It was only 
physical strength that they feared. I labored 
under great disadvantage, through being small 
of stature and low in the scale of avoirdupois. 

Now I would not be understood to say that 
all the boys in that school were ready to 
thrash the teacher if he did not behave according 
to their ideas of propriety. There were young 

(41) 



42 A Case of Discipline, 1849 

men there who came to school to learn, and 
whose influence and sympathy were with the 
teacher. It is the few, — three or four or five, 
who clique together in opposition to the teacher 
— that sometimes give trouble. 

School had been organized, lessons were as- 
signed and I began to call the classes, when a 
tall boy on the back seat rose and said, ' ' May I 
go out ? " I said ' ' No ; we shall have our recess 
in ten minutes ; please wait until recess. ' ' He 
sat down but in about a minute rose and said, 
" I'm goin' out," and started for the door. 

I was in the back part of the room but about 
three jumps carried me to the door, and with my 
back against it, I faced him as he stood about 
six feet in front of me. I stood a moment try- 
ing to get his eye, but you never can get the eye 
of a coward. I finally said, ' ' My friend, you 
never will go out of this school- room alive until 
I let you go. You go to your seat. ' ' 

Do you think he went to his seat ? He knew 
very well that he could push me aside, open the 
door and go out. Do you think I feared him ? 
I had no more fear of him than I would have of 
a ten- year-old boy. I was as sure that he would 
go to his seat as I was that I was standing at 
that door. With no hesitation whatever he 
turned about and went to his seat and the school 
went on. Surely moral force is stronger than 



Will that Counts, not Weight 43 



physical, but in cases of emergency, I have 
found it necessary to have on hand a supply of 
both of these virtues. 

The school had been going on quietly for some 
days when at the boys' recess in the forenoon an 
old fashioned tin dinner- horn was tooted out in 
the yard. I stepped to the window and saw it 
in the hands of my friend William. I opened 
the window and said, '^William, come into the 
school- r oom. " With a terrible oath he refused 
to come in for me or anybody else. I will here 
say that this is the only instance in all of my 
experience in teaching, that a pupil refused to 
mind me, or to do what I told him to do in con- 
nection with the order of school. 

As we all occupied the same yard, it was neces- 
sary to have separate recesses. So I rapped on 
the window for the boys to come in, that the 
girls might have their recess. All came in but 
William, who remained standing in the yard 
near the front gate, evidently not inclined to 
come in, or to leave the school ground. 

Now here was a dilemma ! A pupil standing 
in the yard, and refusing to leave it, and time 
for the girls to have their recess. Fellow teach- 
ers, what would you have done under those cir- 
cumstances ? The young man was nearly six 
feet tall, heavier and stonger than I, and I knew 
he could handle me if he should get hold of me, 



44 A Case of Discipline, 1849 

and yet I was as sure that boy would come in as 
I was that I was teaching that school. He was 
a large, strong boy, yet I knew I could make six 
motions to his one. I stepped out at the rear 
door and said, " William, you must go into the 
school-room." I received for reply a number of 
strong oaths with a flat refusal. 

I was not as well acquainted with school-law 
then as I am now, and did not know as I had a 
right to go into the street for the boy, for I be- 
lieved he would run. But the law was of small 
account to me then ; that boy was going into the 
school-room. I started for him and he did run, 
but his running was of small account for I could 
run two rods to his one and soon came up to him. 
Before he had time to think what I was after, 
my two hands had a good grip in his hair, he 
was doubled over with his head about two feet 
from the ground and was trotting toward the 
school-house. He did not get his head higher 
until we were inside, and I went at him with a 
good ruler. When I let him up, it was after he 
had promised to obey every rule of my school, 
never to be saucy to me, and never to use an- 
other profane word on that play-ground. He 
went to his seat peaceably and at noon came to 
me and very civilly asked if he might go home. 
Knowing he was in no condition to study I said, 
^' Yes." I have not given this boy's full name 



The Trustees Sustain me 45 

but will say, his father kept the Old Red Tavern 
about one and a half miles south of Podunk. 

Three of the most noted places on that street 
were Podunk, Owl's Head, and the Old Red 
Tavern. I was obliged to pass the Old Red Tav- 
ern in going home. In the middle of the street 
I was met by the father of the boy and, leaving 
out the profanity and the threats, I listened to 
a very eloquent lecture, in which he assured me 
that he would have me in the penitentiary be- 
fore the next night. I listened attentively, and 
without making reply passed on. I imagine 
that I did not have much appetite for supper 
that night, for I did not know but he could put 
me in the lockup. 

After tea I went up to the corners and called 
the trustees together. The board was composed 
of three representative men : John F. Hicks and 
J. Kincaid, both acting justices of the peace at 
that time, and James Chesbro. On the assem- 
bling of the board, I stated the circumstances, 
and the president said : ' ' Mr. Hooper we have 
hired you to teach our school. If that boy comes 
back and does not obey your rules, you go at him 
again, only be a little more severe the next time, 
and we wiU stand between you and all harm. 
It shall not cost you a cent." 

I wonder how many of the trustees of the 
schools realize how much good an encouraging 



46 A Case of Discipline, 1849 

word does a teacher. I went back to my school 
the next morning feeUng as strong as a hon. I 
had not only my own strength but also the 
strength of the three strong men just back of 
me. The question of discipline was settled. I 
think those boys believed that I would climb a 
boy six feet tall and wring his neck if he did not 
mind me. There was no more trouble on that 
line during the three years that I taught the Po- 
dunk school. 

I will say before closing this chapter, that 
William came to school after a week's absence, 
and never gave me more trouble. Some years 
afterward I met him at Amboy, where he had 
married and settled. While teaching at Amboy 
I raised several acres of tobacco and used to hire 
William to help me hoe it. While working to- 
gether in the tobacco we used to talk and laugh 
over our little scrap at the Podunk school, and I 
think the man respected me much more than if 
the incident had not occurred. 

Podunk was a place much better known fifty 
years ago than it is now. That is, it had a far 
reaching reputation. It was said that one travel- 
ling in western States, if he chanced to speak of 
Syracuse would find that little was known of it ; 
but if he mentioned Podunk he would find that 
it was well-known. I remember at one time 
when eight or ten railroad conductors came out 



PODUNK FIFTY YEARS AGO 47 

there on what they called a lark. Soon after 
they arrived they cut the flagpole down and 
stretching it across the street made a tollgate of 
it, and every man who came along must pay toll. 
If he had a woman with him, however, the pole 
was carried back and all stood with uncovered 
heads while she was passing. The constable was 
notified and came in haste. They hstened re- 
spectfully while he explained the law and told 
them that they would be arrested if they did not 
desist at once. They gathered around, took him 
in their arms, and carrying him to the bar, told 
the landlord to fill the glasses. The constable 
being a strong temperance man, some friends in- 
terfered in his behalf, and he was told that if he 
would go right home and be a good boy they 
would let him go. 

But Podunk is no more. Under the march of 
civilization, Centerville with Plank Eoad P. 0. 
has taken its place ; and with another stride on- 
ward in the scale of knoAvledge, it is now honored 
with the name of North Syracuse. Owl's Head 
has long since been forgotten. The old Eed Tav- 
ern has been swept away, and the places that 
knew them will know them no more. 



CHAPTEE XI 
Tobacco in School, 1852 

As we are writing under the head of incidents 
of school experience, and that my young readers 
may compare the old with the new, permit me 
to say farther of this same school that after 
three years of happy experience I went into 
what we called the Brown district school, and a 
man of long experience was engaged in the Po- 
dunk school. Some three or four weeks after the 
school had commenced I met one of the trustees 
who asked me to visit the school and see how 
the teacher, w^hom I had recommended to them, 
was getting along, as they understood he was 
teaching all of the boys, and he did not know 
but the girls, to smoke. Being then a resident 
of the Podunk district, I embraced the first op- 
portunity to visit the school. I found a fine class 
of pupils present, many of them young men and 
women. I noticed a general confusion in the 
room, yet all were busy and the work went on 
until recess. (The progress of civilization had 
made it apparent that it was better to have 
seperate yards for girls and boys, so the recess 
came at the same time.) 

Immediately after recess was announced, the 

(48) 



Liberal Notions of Discipline 49 

teacher filled and lighted his pipe, several of the 
boys lighted cigars, and they all had a visit and 
a smoke together. I spoke to the teacher of 
the impropriety of smoking in the school-room. 
He replied that he could not get along from morn- 
ing until noon without smoking and as he was 
obliged to smoke he could not deprive the boys 
of the same privilege. As the school went on 
after recess I noticed that the boys were free to 
cross the room and sitting beside the girls to talk 
over their lessons, and I suppose, their parties. 
They all seemed very free to change about while 
the teacher kept hard at work. 

At noon I had an opportunity to ask the young 
folks how it went : ' ^ Oh ! grandly, ' ' they said. 
They never had so much fun in school in their 
Hves. I asked the teacher about the whispering 
and general confusion, and he said he did not be- 
lieve in still schools. By allowing the pupils to 
change their seats, they could help each other, 
and it saved a great deal of time. And then he 
loved to hear that buzzing sound in the room. 
It sounded like the mill grinding corn. It seemed 
as if there was business going on. 

I will add that there were sensible pupils in 
that school. They had become a little intoxi- 
cated with the fun, but as soon as they sobered 
up, they realized that they were not learning, 
and one day they had a quarrel with their teach- 
er, and the school was closed. 



CHAPTER XII 
In Various Schools, 1853-18Y2 

My two years' or two winters' experience in 
the Brown school was marked by no inter- 
ruptions. I had some boys who were regarded 
as a httle rough, but we got along very pleas- 
antly. I have heard my friend Mr. Fred Smiley 
of North Syracuse relate an incident of that 
school which I will repeat. He said that in the 
spring, just before the close of my first year, one 
of the trustees in conversation with a young 
man who had formerly given some trouble in the 
school, said to him : ' ' You used a year ago to 
call that little teacher that we had from Syra- 
cuse, Kinky! Kinky! Kinky! Why don't you 
call this one Kinky ? ' ' The reply was : "He 
is nothing but a kinky, but darn him we dare 
not tell him so. They knew they could handle 
him, but for some mysterious reason they dared 
not undertake it. " 

My next two winters were spent at Pine Grove, 
about one mile north of Podunk, where teachers 
and pupils enjoyed the work and were happy. 
This school was represented by such families as 
those of Rev. Earl P. Salisbury, Merritt Belden, 
Merriam, Lilly, and other representative men, 
and the school was intelligent. 

(50j 



Pine Grove, Amboy, Fairmount 51 

After nine years of teaching in the northern 
towns, I settled in the school at Amboy in the 
town of Camillus. I spent four years very 
pleasantly at Amboy. The only incident that I 
care to relate is a little advice given me by the 
trustee about three weeks after the school had 
begun. As I went into his grocery store one 
evening he made this remark: '' Mr. Hooper, 
there are three boys in your school who do not 
intend to mind you. Now you may do as you 
have a mind to, but I will tell you what I would 
do. The first time one of those boys refused to 
mind me, I would knock him down with a stick 
of wood or anything I could get hold of." 
Eather radical advice for a trustee to give his 
teacher. I said: " I am abundantly able to 
manage my school. I shall not call on my trus- 
tee to help me. ' ' 

The school was pleasant and I think as a rule 
we were all happy. 

I then spent two years at the upper or western 
Fairmount school. I have never taught a school 
that gave me more satisfaction than this one. 
There are two departments, and we were obliged 
to use the second room for a study room, as 
there were many more than one room would 
accommodate. This school was represented by 
such families as the DriscoU, Plumb, Murphy, 
Whedon, Gaylord, Canally, Hubbard, Wads- 
worth, and Leddy families. 



52 In Various Schools, 1853-1872 

I think could James DriscoU have Hved he 
might have reached the Nation's capital sooner 
than his brother Michael. He was a tall, fine- 
looking young man, full of fun and full of work. 
He died at the age of twenty-nine. 

Some of my older readers will remember 
Jeemes of the Baldwinsville Gazette, or rather 
James Clark. If I am not mistaken Mr. Clark 
filled out a term as school commissioner made 
vacant by the resignation of Alonzo H. Clapp. 
I can hardly forbear to say just here of Alonzo 
H. Clapp that it was a costly war that required 
the lives of such men. He was young, thor- 
oughly educated, true to the principles of right. 
Could he have lived he would have reflected 
honor upon his chosen profession. 

An incident of this school occurs to me which 
I will relate. On a certain morning, when the 
seats in the senior room were all filled and the 
arithmetic recitations were going on, a tall, dark- 
complexioned, black-haired gentleman entered 
the room and announced himself the school 
commissioner. We gave him a seat and the 
work went on until half-past eleven, when at 
the ringing of the table-bell the folding doors 
were thrown open, and fifteen girls and boys, as 
intelligent a class as I have ever had in any 
school, passed out to the recitation. The com- 
missioner leaned back in his chair and expressed 



Geddes 53 

himself in about the f oUowing language : ' ' Well, 
Mr. Hooper, I have found an oasis! I have 
been travelling in the desert all the week and 
truly this is an oasis ! ' ' 

In the fall of 1863 I had a call to the Geddes 
village school, then consisting of two hundred 
ten pupils, with four teachers. During my 
principalship it grew in numbers (including the 
Magnolia branch) to nine hundred sixty pupils 
with seventeen teachers. I do not care to say 
much of my experience as principal of the Ged- 
des school. They told us we had a good school, 
but I have to confess that as I look back upon 
the methods of doing school work then and com- 
pare them with the present, and see how much 
more is being accomplished, and how much less 
time is required in which to accomplish it, I 
hardly feel to admit that my school was even 
then a good school. 

Perhaps before closing this chapter I should 
say for the satisfaction of the more than nine 
hundred Contibutors to the beautiful tribute of 
their kindness and generosity, that after almost 
thirty years have passed it is ticking off the time 
in my pocket by day and by night as correctly 
as ever. 



CHAPTER XIII 

A School Commissioner, 1873-1878 

In the fall of 1872 I was elected to the office 
of school commissioner of the second district of 
Onondaga county, and re-elected in 1875, holding 
the office six years. 

The school commissioner has always been con- 
sidered, like the schoolmaster of olden time, a 
distinguished individual. It is an honorable 
office, and any man may consider himself hon- 
ored who has been elected to it by a fair majority 
of the voters of his district. But when a man 
has to buy influence and pay for it in money, in 
whisky, in beer, and cigars, in order to be elected, 
there is not much honor in it. 

I was at this time suffering for want of out- 
of-door exercise. Through the kindness of my 
friends in giving me the office, I got all that I 
wanted, and from January to April I thought a 
little more than I needed ; for I came near freez- 
ing to death. 

I found the larger schools doing weU, and some 
of the more rural schools were doing their work 
well, and producing good results. But they were 
like fertile spots in the desert, few and far 
between. 

The most of the rural schools were in a sad 

(54) 



Teaching of Reading in the 70 's 55 

condition. For instance I stayed at a farmer's 
house over night. In the evening a httle boy 
about seven years old who was playing with his 
toys was requested by his mother to get his 
school reader and read for the commissioner. 
The little boy read some stories that I selected for 
him in as pleasant, natural, story -like way as 
one could wish. I visited the school the next 
morning, and when the class of which this little 
boy was a member was called, I turned to one 
of the pieces that had been read so nicely the 
evening before and requested the teacher to allow 
the children to read it. To say that I was sur- 
prised would hardly express it. The boy at the 
end of the class pitched the key — struck the tune 
and read the first verse. No. 2 with the same 
pitch and in the same tune read the second verse. 
The boy who had read this piece so nicely in the 
evening at home was No. 3, and taking the 
same class pitch and tune read his verse in that 
same strange, unnatural voice. He dared not read 
naturally, the class would laugh at him, the 
whole school would laugh at him, and I do not 
know but the teacher would. The intelligent 
mother was teaching her boy to read correctly. 
The teacher was undoing every day what the 
mother was trying to accomplish. 

Now this is a fair sample of the silly work 
that was done in many of the schools of the 



66 A School Commissioner, 1873-187 8 

county in the teaching of reading less than 
thirty years ago. 

What was very strange to me, and for which 
I have never been able to account, was the fact 
that wherever this strange pitch and tune was 
found in a class, it was in all classes, not only 
in the reading but in the other recitations. And 
it was precisely the same in schools twenty miles 
apart. 

I learned the tune so perfectly that I can take 
the pitch and sing a verse in that tune now as 
well as I could then. It is the second tune that 
I ever learned. My wife used to tell me that I 
knew but one tune, and that was ' ' From Green- 
lands Icy mountains ". But I learned this tune 
as perfectly as the other, and can sing both of 
them very nicely now. 



CHAPTER XIV 
Teachers Associations 

I think that ever since commissioner district 
teachers meetings were first organized, it has 
been conceded by the better class of teachers 
that much good came from them. We had in 
those days usually four meetings a year, and 
they were well attended. 

The most good that I ever realized from teach- 
ers meetings v^as in town gatherings. I would 
visit the schools of a town and at the same time 
see the trustee of each school, and ask him to 
allow the teacher to close her school at noon on 
Friday without deducting from her salary, as I 
wanted her at the teacher's meeting. Not in a 
single instance did a trustee refuse to allow the 
teacher to go, and almost always, if necessary, 
he would provide means for her to get there. 
Many a Friday afternoon have I spent pleasantly 
with ten or twelve teachers, discussing our suc- 
cesses and our failures, and advising each other 
how to overcome difficulties such as we must 
meet in the school-room. 

I am sorry to note that teachers associations 
are becoming fess frequent in Onondaga county, 
and I know of no reason other than that school 

(57) 



68 Teachers Associations 

commissioners are receiving a higher salary now 
than they got thirty years ago. 

The first teachers institute that I attended was 
held in Syracuse, and was conducted by John H. 
French. The second was held in the old White 
school house in Baldwinsville, and was conducted 
by James Johonnot. These two men were types 
of the noble men sent out by the State depart- 
ment, to build up teachers institutes in New 
York State, and well did they do their work. 
One of the strongest evidences of the growing 
efficiency of the teachers institutes from those 
days to the present, is found in the greater effi- 
ciency of our teachers and the improved methods 
of doing school work. 

The department has sometimes made mistakes, 
and men have been sent to conduct our institutes 
who were good for nothing as teachers. But I 
will say of the present administration, if a single 
mistake has been made on this line, Onondaga 
county has not found it. 

It is but a few years since the law requiring 
attendance at the institute was in force, and 
there were more liberties taken in the old days 
than now. 

I remember an incident at an institute held at 
Skaneateles, while I was principal of the school 
at Geddes. 

One morning, while the bell was being rung 



Teachers Institutes 59 

for the morning session, as I was sitting by the 
window fronting the lake, I saw my whole corps 
of teachers, to the number of seventeen, headed 
up the lake under full sail, waving their handker- 
chiefs. After an hour's sail they came in look- 
ing as fresh, as innocent, and as good-natured as 
one could wish. I will say that I never whipped 
a girl in my school in my life. But if I could 
have taken one of those gads spoken of in an- 
other part of this book, and laid it onto those 
seventeen young women's shoulders about six 
times apiece, I think it would have been perfect 
bliss — for me. 



CHAPTER XV 

SoLVAY, 1879-1884 

At the termination of my term of office I en- 
gaged as principal of school No. 2, Geddes, now 
Solvay, where I remained six years. 

I enjoyed my school at No. 2 very much, and 
I think the boys and girls of that time, now 
grown to men and women, are glad to meet and 
shake hands with their old teacher. 

I can hardly forbear to relate a little incident 
of this school which occurred while I was in the 
school commissioner work. A young man with 
a good education, so far as book knowledge was 
concerned, was engaged to teach the school. It 
soon became evident to the commissioner that 
he lacked one of the principal requisites of a 
successful teacher, — that is common sense. The 
school amounted to nothing for want of disci- 
pline. The school had two departments, and 
there was a large class of older pupils who had 
evidently been in the habit of running the school 
about to suit their own notion. The young man 
was obliged to quit, and Peter B. McLennan, 
then reading law in one of the law offices of 
Syracuse, was engaged to finish the term. I 
was told by the pupils, that the school passed 
along quietly for some days, when, as the teacher 
was hearing a class of young boys and girls re- 

(60) 



A Stalwart Teacher 61 

cite their lesson and talking with them about their 
geography work, a couple of young men sitting 
a little back took it upon them to cut up. The 
teacher, with a book in one hand and continuing 
the conversation with the class, quietly walked 
back and taking one of the young men by the 
collar lifted him up over the desks and carried 
him to the front. Not breaking his conversation, 
he lifted the other with one hand and, carrying 
him to the front, passed on as if nothing had 
happened. Discipline was established and there 
was no more trouble on that line. 

I will add another anecdote of this teacher, 
now a distinguished justice of the supreme court. 
At our teachers institute one of the conductors 
had made himself disagreeable by putting on 
airs and talking down to the teachers. He gave 
a lesson on local geography, in the course of 
which he asked how long Onondaga lake was. 
Some thought it was five miles, some five and a 
half, some six, some six and a half. He burst 
into a tirade against their ignorance, saying these 
lakes of central New York were world famous ; 
a teacher in Louisana or in Liverpool or in Vienna 
ought to know their dimensions. How disgrace- 
ful for Onondaga teachers not to know, and know 
for certain, that Onondaga lake was six miles 
long. When he was through young McLennan 
quietly asked him how wide it was. The con- 
ductor could not tell ; he had not looked that up. 



CHAPTER XVI 
Final Experiences as a Teacher, 1884-1899 

In the spring of 1884 I engaged to teach in 
Baldwinsville, on the south side of the river. I 
had a very pleasant school experience in Bald- 
winsville for three years, when I engaged to go 
to Cayuga, in Cayuga county. My nervous sys- 
tem at this time was nearly prostrated, and after 
trying two months to overcome my nervousness 
and settle down to school work I was obliged to 
give it up. 

I rested the remainder of the school year, and 
the next year I went into the West Fairmount 
school, where I taught the children of those who 
were my pupils thirty-one and thirty-two years 
before. To say I enjoyed this school is unneces- 
sary, for I have never taught a school that I did 
not enjoy; and I suppose that the fact that I 
have always been happy in my school work has 
had something to do with prolonging my school- 
hfe. 

After six years of school work at Fairmount, I 
went into the Euclid school, in the town of Clay, 
where I remained ^ve years. Forty -five years 
before, I had taught my first school in the. county 
in the town of Clay, and I had some desire to 

(63; 



My Last Year of School 63 

finish my work in the same town. After five 
years of happy experience in Euchd I found I 
had described a fifty year circle, and on advising 
with my doctor as to the probabihty of my being 
able to describe another such a circle I followed 
his advice and retired. 

I shall never forget my last year of school. I 
had some misgivings at the beginning of the 
year about being able to go through. The first 
half year of school passed, and I felt that I could 
not finish my year. ' ' But, ' ' I said, ' ' it is my 
fiftieth year of school in Onondaga county " ; and 
I prayed earnestly that I might have strength to 
finish the year. That same will-power that had 
so many times come to the rescue seemed to 
impel me on, and I finished the work of teach- 
ing on the seventeenth day of June, 1899. On 
that, to me, memorable afternoon, as the last 
pupil bade me a pleasant good-by, I settled back 
in my chair and said to myself, " It is done ! ' ' 

And now my dear readers, my school life is 
ended. The story of my young boyhood, the 
struggles that I experienced, the pledges that I 
made, the power that was given me to keep my 
pledges sacred, the Divine help and procecting 
care that were given me amid dangers, have all 
been recorded. I have narrated my experience 
from the age of twenty, when fortune seemed 
to smile upon me and I was enabled to earn my 



64 Final Experiences AS A Teacher, 1884-1899 

living, and also to get an education ; my return 
to St. Lawrence county and my first school ex- 
perience; my boarding around; coasting down 
hill on the crust on our way to the spelling 
school; the commencement of fifty year's ex- 
perience as a teacher in Onondaga county. 



CHAPTER XVII 

Attendance and Tardiness 

I have often been asked by teachers, especially 
of the rural schools, one or more of the following 
questions : 

(1) How do you secure regular attendance ? 

(2) How do you prevent tardiness ? 

(3) How do you prevent whispering ? 

(4) Do you advise teachers to play with their 
pupils out of school hours ? 

(5) Do you believe in corporal punishment ? 
I have been accustomed to reply as follows : 

(1) To secure regular attendance, be attractive 
yourself, full of enthusiasm and interest in your 
work. Never let time drag with yourself or 
your pupils. Make your school-room attractive. 
Engage the interest of your pupils to help you to 
make your school-room and play-ground just as 
beautiful as possible, and secure the cooperation 
of the trustee ; visit the parents of the habitually 
absent, stay to tea, and talk the matter over. If 
absent again, go down that same night and talk 
it over again. Be sure to stay to tea every time 
you go, and it won't be long before Johnny will 
be in school regularly. 

(2) To prevent tardiness, never be tardy your 

(65) 



^6 Tardiness 

self. A teacher should be a pattern of punctu- 
ality. He should be on time in meeting all of 
his engagements, both social and business. He 
should be on time at school, on time at church, 
on time everywhere. Teach the parents that 
there is no excuse for tardiness ; and if necessary 
send a printed circular to all the parents setting 
forth the importance of children's learning les- 
sons of promptness. Just such a circular as you 
can write and as will cost but a few cents to 
have seventy-five or a hundred printed, will 
prove of great help. 

But, you say, suppose after all some do come 
in tardy, what will you do ? Always let them 
come in, and never whip them. But you may 
talk to them, and you can soon make it unpopu- 
lar for pupils to come into school-room after the 
school has begun. 

On a certain Saturday a number of years since 
I started from a little west of Syracuse to go to 
Auburn. I walked up the turnpike to Camillus, 
and as I reached a point on the east hill near the 
station I saw the train moving out. The conduc- 
tor was standing on the rear platform. I called 
loudly to him to stop the train. I told him our 
clock was too slow, and I did not mean to be tardy. 
I told him my mother was sick and I had to go for 
the doctor. I told him I had to mind the baby 
while my mother washed the dishes, and I had to 



Why I MISSED the Train 67 

chop some wood for my mother to get dinner. He 
just stood looking at me and laughed. I finally 
told him that my little brother had just died ; I 
thought surely that would break his heart, but 
he kept going right on all the time, laughing 
at me. 

Now do you not think that conductor was a 
hard-hearted man ? 1 wanted to go to Auburn 
and he was going right that way. To be sure I 
was about one minute late, but I had brought 
the very best of excuses, just such as nine-tenths 
of the teachers would accept, and this man 
would not accept one of them. 

Now let us look a moment at the position held 
by this man and see if Ave can find a reason for 
his treating me so shabbily. This train was 
loaded with men, women, and children ; and the 
conductor was legally and morally responsible 
not only for their safety, but also for their 
reaching their destination on time, and he 
had no time to stop for a laggard. Again the 
train in that one minute time had reached a 
velocity that hah carried it beyond the power of 
the conductor. He could not stop it if he would. 
Its own momentum would carry it on. 

Now my school carries as precious a load as 
any railroad train, and I am legally and morally 
responsible for the safety of the pupils, and also 
for their moral and intellectual development into 



68 Tardiness 

good business men and women. If I find a fault 
growing in the character of one of these pupils, 
it is my business to try and remove it, and a lag- 
gard will never make much of a business man. 

I love to look upon my school, although it may 
be far away, hid among the hills in the country, 
and contain but ten little children, as a part of 
the great educational system of my country, and 
feel that I am one of the great army of teachers, 
working faithfully to develop the girls and boys 
in my charge into true manhood and womanhood. 

Would I send a tardy pupil home ? Yes if I 
had a right to. But as 1 have not, I will make 
it so unpleasant for him that he will rather go 
home than come into my school-room tardy. 

Oh ! but you say, he will lose all of his lessons 
of that session. Yes, he will, but what will he 
gain ? Perhaps I can answer the question by 
telling you what I gained by the conductor's 
refusing to wait just one minute for me at the 
station. It was this: when I wanted to take 
the train at Camillus again to go to Auburn I 
was on time. 



CHAPTER XVIII 
Whispering 

(3) To prevent whispering, the best way I 
have ever found is to crowd it out with hard 
work. Another good way is to vote it out. Ask 
your pupils to sign a pledge that they will not 
whisper in study hours. And after you have 
crowded it out and voted it out and pledged it out 
you will find some from whom you would like to 
thrash it out. I have sometimes worked the 
reporting system successfully. It wiU work well 
in some schools; in others it should never be 
used. If you find that even one pupil is not 
reporting truthfuUy, either silence that one, or 
discontinue the plan. 

A case in hand will show to what means pupils 
will sometimes resort to avoid telling a falsehood, 
and yet have their own way. 

In my own experience in one of the larger 
schools a class graduated from the junior to the 
senior room. Among the graduates were three 
girls who were close companions, and more than 
usually bright. It soon became evident to me 
that those three girls were whispering every day 
and reporting perfect. In my conversation with 
them after school, they admitted that they whis- 

(69; 



70 Danger of Self-Eeporting 

pered in study hours, and that they reported pre- 
fect. But they indignantly denied that they told 
falsehoods. 

I told them that I had confidence in their in- 
tegrity. I said, " It would break your mothers' 
hearts if they knew that you were telling a false- 
hood here every day, and you will have to ex- 
plain." 

They much preferred to settle the matter with 
me rather than to have it go to their mothers, 
and they explained that all the while they were 
in the junior room the rule was that they must 
not whisper to each other in study hours. So 
whenever they whispered they always said ' ' Miss 
White " first, and then said what they wanted to. 
They had done the same since they had been 
in my room, so they had never whispered to each 
other, but to Miss White in the junior, and to 
Mr. Hooper, in the senior room. 

So I say be cautious in the use of the report- 
ing system, but if you use it make it thorough. 

(4) As to whether teachers should play with 
their pupils out of school hours, I will say that 
any game that is suitable for pupils is suitable 
for teachers, and I am sorry for a teacher who 
cannot enter heartily into the sports of the 
children. 



CHAPTER XIX 
Corporal Punishment 

(5) As to corporal punishment, I will say that 
the more experience I have in dealing with chil- 
dren, the less I believe in punishing ; and I have 
come to believe that the enactment of a law 
making it a misdemeanor for a teacher to pun- 
ish a pupil by inflicting pain upon his body as a 
means of preserving order in school, would be a 
wise law. 

We are expected to use such means to preserve 
order in our schools as a judicious parent would 
use in governing his children in the family. 
There are injudicious parents; and we have inju- 
dicious teachers who never ought to be allowed 
to punish a child. 

Under this head let me state a few facts that 
have come under my own observation. The 
first implements of torture in use in the schools 
that I remember to have seen, were ironwood 
ox-gads, four or five feet long, and steamed in 
the fire to make them still more tough. Sixty 
years ago, five or six such gads laid up overhead 
in the school-room were considered a part of the 
winter teacher's kit, and he was not considered 
much of a teacher if he was not able to use them. 

(71) 



T2 Corporal Punishment 

Other punishments were the dunce-card, the 
red cap, and the printed card. I do not know 
but these are still in use. Another was the 
wheel-platform ; this consisted of a board about 
one foot square with a small wheel, like a 
castor, under each corner. I never saw this 
worked, but have been told that the pupil was 
required to stand on the platform with his book, 
when the teacher, watching his opportunity, 
would kick the platform from behind, letting 
him down on the back of his head. 

Next, the sweat-chain. This was a small 
trace chain prepared with a slipping noose at 
one end to attach to the stove-pipe or crane of 
the fire-place, and a lock at the other end. It 
was worked by passing the chain around the 
pupil's body, drawing him up, and locking him 
to the pipe. Then a good fire in the stove soon 
sweated all the evil out. This convenient ap- 
paratus was in use in some of the schools of On- 
ondaga county less than forty-five years ago. 

Another quite popular method of punishment, 
and one that I have seen worked, was for the 
teacher to draw a chalk line on the floor, which 
the pupil must toe and bending over put the end 
of his fingers on another line drawn some dis- 
tance in front ; then, holding up one foot, he was 
in a position of agony during the pleasure of 
the teacher. This mode of punishment was 



Implements of Torture 73 

somewhat common in the more rural schools of 
the 2d district of the county in 1872 and 1873. 
In the winter of 1873 I found it in use as I 
stepped into a school-room I immediately in- 
formed the teacher that I was there to inspect 
his methods of teaching and not of punishing, 
and would like that boy to be released. There 
were intelligent young women in that room who 
blushed with shame and indignation at that 
spectacle. 



CHAPTEE XV 
Eesponsibility of the Teacher 

I think it would be well for our department of 
public instruction to appoint a committee whose 
duty it shall be to prepare specimens of the bull- 
gad, the dunce-block, cap, and motto, the plat- 
form-car, the sweat-chain, the paddle as used in 
the Elmira Eeformatory, and the hickory ruler, 
and deposit them in our State capitol at Albany 
as relics of the means used to preserve order in 
our schools during the barbarous ages. 

I would like just here to speak of a subject 
that is not connected with discipline. 

I have visited institutes and other teacher's 
gatherings outside of our county, and I believe 
the conductors will bear me out in making the 
statement that there is no class of people more 
neatly and reasonably dressed than a class of 
Onondaga county teachers at their institute. 

I have said that teachers should be patterns of 
promptness. I want to say just here, that teach- 
ers should be patterns of neatness. I have seen 
men teachers in their schools with their trowser- 
legs inside their rubber-boot tops, while a ridge 
around the ankle indicated just how deep they 
had got into the mud in coming to school. 

(74) 



Personal Interest in Pupils 75 

Good nature is one of the graces that a teacher 
should possess. A kind heart, indicated by a 
radiant face and pleasant voice, will cover many 
faults. I know there come times and circum- 
stances in the school-room when it seems hard, 
but we do not want to forget that it pays to be 
good-natured. Cultivate a kind heart and let 
kindness mark every step of your school life. 
Every teacher of experience can recall times when 
a kind word to a pupil gave him courage and 
ambition such as he had never felt before, and 
perhaps changed the whole course of his life. 

A boy came into my school at Geddes one 
morning, ragged, untidy, and altogether in a sad 
condition for the school-room. After a little 
time I asked him about books, and found he had 
none. I picked up some books for him for the 
day, and at the close of school I had him remain. 
Some way I had been drawn toward the boy from 
my first conversation with him. When we were 
alone I sat down close to him, and putting my 
hand on his shoulder, said, '' Johnny, do you 
want to learn ? ' ' 

Tears ran down his cheeks as he said : ' ' Mr. 
Hooper, I do want to learn; you don't know 
how much I want to learn. Will you let me 
come to your school ? " By this time tears were 
running down my cheeks, and Johnny and his 
teacher had a good crying spell together. He 



76 Eesponsibility of the Teacher 

then told me that he had just come from driving 
on the canal, and as navigation was about clos- 
ing, he was discharged in Syracuse, the captain 
telling him that he had no money to pay him 
at present. Johnny was soon properly clothed 
and happy in school. 

I will add that two years and a half afterward 
I went into our coal office to order some coal, 
and this same young man took my order. He 
was a trusted clerk and earning a good salary. 

A few years ago I visited the State prison at 
Auburn. As the party were led into a large 
empty room with windows and doors barred, I 
saw, leaning against the door on the opposite 
side of the room, a young man dressed in the 
prison suit. His face was so familiar to me that 
for a moment I forgot where I was, and was go- 
ing to shake hands with him and say, ' ' How do 
you do, Frank ? ' ' when he shook his head for me 
not to come. I saw him as I had seen him sit- 
ting before me at the recitation, month after 
month for more than two years. As I turned 
and went up the stairs, I said to myself, ^ ' To 
what extent am I responsible for the condition 
of that young man ? ' ' 

There graduated from the junior to the senior 
room with his class, a young boy whom we called 
Eugene. He was a favorite with both teachers 
and pupils. He was small for his age, then ten. 



Patience, Prayer, Perseverance 7T 

He was just that kind of boy that everybody 
loves. He was bright, of a nervous tempera- 
ment, perfectly rehable, easy to learn, and full of 
mischief. Fellow teacher, did you ever know a 
temperament such as I have described that was 
not mischievous ? 

In a few days I found he was writing and pass- 
ing notes to his classmates in study hours. What 
was to be done ? Shall we punish him ? I 
think I would not have struck that boy a blow 
to save my right hand from destruction. I did 
as you would have done, kept him and talked 
with him alone. Please remember I asked him 
to make no promises, for I believed if he did he 
would break them. Again and again the same 
thing was repeated, and again and again we had 
a talk alone. I had asked for no pledge that he 
would discontinue writing notes in study hours 
and he had not volunteered to give me one. 

Fellow teachers, I come to you for advice. I 
am in trouble. This little boy is troubhng me 
and I do not know how to overcome the trouble. 
My patience is gone. I worried about it all last 
night. Is it time to whip him now ? No. I 
have studied this little boy. I know what his 
nature is, and I would not whip him for all the 
gold in the mines. But what shall we do ? 
We are driven to the wall. My wisdom is not 
equal to the task, but, fellow teacher, as I can- 



78 Responsibility of the Teacher 

not direct you, I will cite you to three words, 
each commencing with P, that will always help 
you out in every school emergency: patience, 
prayer, and perseverance. 

It was late in the fall, and on a dark, gloomy 
day about three o'clock in the afternoon, I took 
the little boy by the hand and went down to the 
primary room. The children had all gone home. 
It was dark, gloomy, and silent as we went into 
that large room. I sat down on a desk and 
drawing him to me and putting my arm around 
him said, ' ' Eugene, do you not think I ought 
to whip you ? ' ' Impulsively he put his arm 
around my neck, and said ' ' Mr. Hooper, I will 
be a good boy ! I wiU be a good boy ! I won't 
do so any more. ' ' Tears were running down his 
cheeks and they were running down mine as 
well, and Eugene and his teacher had a cry 
together. Please notice he had given me a 
voluntary pledge, and I knew he would keep it. 
I said, it is too lonesome here. Let us go back to 
the school-room. During the few weeks that 
followed I believe that pledge was kept sacred. 

We noticed one morning that Eugene's chair 
was vacant and we heard that he was very sick. 
Each morning as we inquired after him, the re- 
port was that he was not as well, and every eve- 
ning I called to see him. During his spells of 
delirium his school was in his mind. His exam- 



My Anticipations 79 

inations seemed to trouble him, and his mother 
told me he would frequently say he would not 
trouble Mr. Hooper any more. Some two weeks 
after the httle boy's chair was vacant, word 
came about two o'clock in the afternoon that 
Eugene was dying and wanted to see his teacher. 

I hastened down to the sick room, and as I sat 
on that bedside and looked into that beautiful 
face, his eyes seemed to be lighted up with 
heavenly light. I had never seen them so bright 
before. Some one said, he is penetrating the 
veil; he is looking into the beautiful kingdom. 
I said to myself, my dear boy, I never struck 
you a blow. I never spoke an ill-natured word 
to you. I shall meet you before the Great 
White Throne! 

As I sat at my table in the school-room at 
Baldwinsville at the beginning of the noon hour, 
a young girl in passing out to go to her dinner 
said to me, ' ' Mr. Hooper, I am afraid I shall 
not be at school this afternoon, as I am not 
feeling well." I said, "Louise, I have noticed 
that you do not feel well. Is you school work 
troubhng you ? ' ' She said, ' ^ No, I think I 
will be back to-morrow. ' ' In three days Louise 
died and we laid her beautiful form in the flower- 
lined grave in the cemetery beside the Seneca. 

Fellow teacher, have you ever missed a dearly 
loved pupil from your school-room ? Did you 
think as you went back and saw the vacant seat, 



80 Responsibility of the Teacher 

that but yesterday you, with your remaining 
pupils, followed that loved one to the grave and 
saw them cover him down deep in the ground 
with the cold damp earth ? Did it make you a 
better man? A better woman ? A better teacher ? 
And now, kind readers, my task is done. I 
have tried so to write up my little history as 
that you would be entertained and benefited. 
With my seventy- two years experience in life, I 
find I am inclined gradually to let go of life here, 
and take a firmer hold of the life beyond. I am 
contemplating with all the power of my imagina- 
tion, the beauty, the lovehness, the grandeur, 
the glory of that life, — of that home. And I 
say to myself sometimes, Eugene will be there, 
Louise will be there, hundreds of my pupils as 
precious as they will be there. She whom many 
of my readers knew, and who was as precious 
to me as my own life, will be there. All of those 
teachers who have been so kindly associated with 
me in the school-room, will be there. And I 
desire that my mansion be so large, so broad in 
its dimensions, that I may invite all of these, 
and all of the noble men and women who have 
so earnestly worked with me in the schools of 
Onondaga county, and all my host of friends 
everywhere, to come over and make us a visit 
in our new and beautiful mansion in Our Father's 
House. 



OTHER STORIES OF SCHOOL LIFE 



-STANDARD TEACHERS' LIBRARY, NO. 6- 



Bardeen's Eoderick Hume. 

The Story of a New York Teacher. Pp. 319. Cloth, $1.25 ; manilla, 50 
cts. This is one of the 22 best books for teachers recommended by Chancel- 
lor W. H. Payne in the New England Journal of Education for Nov., 1893. It 
is also one of the books described by W. M. Griswold in his " A Descriptiv© 
List of Novels and Tales dealing with American Country Life." 

Roderick Hume took possession of me, and the book was finished in one 
sitting that lasted beyond the smallest hour. I have joined the crowd in 
your triumphal procession. The characters are as truly painted as any in 
Dickens, and the moral is something that cannot be dodged.— Professor 
Edward Norths Hamilton College. 

My confinement at home gave me an opportunity to read it carefully, 
which I have done with great delight. I can certify that it is true to life. 
I have had experience in country and village schools as well as in the 
schools of the cities. The picture is true for all of them. I know too well 
how self-interest, jealousy, prejudice, and the whole host of meaner mo- 
tives are likely to prevail in the management of school affairs anywhere. 
That the people should know this and yet entrust the management of their 
schools to men who are most likely to be influenced by personal considera 
tions is strange indeed.— My memory brings to mind an original for every 
portrait you have dxdisvn.— Andrew J. Rickoff, former Sup't of Schools, Cleve- 
land, O. 

Teachers cannot fail to be greatly benefited by the reading of the book. 
Eoderick's address to his pupils is a compendium of the best points in the 
highest kind of school management. Miss Duzenberrie's victory and Vio 
Blarston's closing remarks ought to teach lessons of warning to many 
teachers who are even the most in earnest about their work. Mary Lowe 
is a beautiful model of a teacher, and no one will be surprised that Roder- 
ick should make her his helpmate instead of his assistant. It is a capital 
story, and we recommend it strongly to every Canadian teacher. Each one 
should get a copy for himself, as he will wish to read it more than once, 
—Inspector James L. Hughes, in Canadian School Journal. 

In the columns of The Bidletiii, in 1878, appeared a serial story which at- 
tracted the attention of educators in all parts of the country. It was en- 
titled Roderick Hume, and was professedly " the story of a New York teach- 
er." It was written with the specific view of portraying certain phases of 
the modern graded school. The narrative was not designed as a satire, 
though a vein of humor ran through it all ; nor was it to be taken as an au- 
tobiography, though the author's own experiences were more or less inter- 
woven with it. The interest of the story increased from month to month, 
and widely extended the reputation of The School Bulletin and its editor. 
Letters received from all parts of the country revealed, in fact, a phe- 
nomenal interest in its outcome. * * • Subsequently it appeared in book 
form, and it has since held a unique place in American literature.— TA* 
Schoolmaster in Comedy and Satire, p. 453. 

C, W. BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y. 



OPINIONS OF RODERICK HUME 

'' I got Roderick Hume yesterday. I began it iu the afternoon, and fin- 
ished it at my ofRce last night at 10 o'clock. It is just like you, full of your 
usual candor, fearlessness, and humor. I haven't laughed so heartily in a 
good while as I did over your book-fight: and its other characters are all 
■drawn ad unguem. Send me 100 copies, and the bill with them. I want my 
teachers, and directors too, to read the most enjoyable book on education I 
have ever read."— Sup't ^. C. Missimer, Erie, Pa. 

" We have just finished Roderick Hume a story of a New York Teacher. 
We began after ten o'clock at night expecting to read an hour. But the 
story was so life-like, so full of that interest which comes from truth well 
portrayed, as to chain us to the end. This book should be in every library 
in Arkansas and school children trained to read it." — Southern School 
Journal. 

" I did not want to eat or sleep till I had read it all. One of my school 
directors picked it up from the table and read a page or two, and although 
he is a man who reads but little he begged the loan of it to read it all. He 
Baid it was so applicable to the average school-board. I shall circulate it 
through my county, and hope to have all my school directors read it and 
apply its teaching."— Sup't C. W. Foreman, Meeker, Colo. 

*' I took the book up with a cynical smile, expecting to glance through 
it to satisfy my conscience and the friend who gave it, and then to lay it 
aside, mentally requesting a waiting world to be patient until I should 
write <^(? &oo^ of our business. But, alas! and alack! I don't think I will 
■write it. I was surprised, pleased, entertained, and ashamed that 1 had not 
read it before. You certainly know teachers, and have given a sensible 
man excellent food for reflection. Those of us who know enough already, 
•of course to us, it can make little difference. I acknowledge that I stick iu 
Vanity Fair and read Sentimental Tommy without a smile or a tear, present 
or remotely prospective, but I revelled in Roderick Hume and shall read it 
again."— /S. B. Gilhuly, Principal Reading Academy, Flemington, N. J. 

" This is a novel, as the name might indicate, and it possesses the novelty 
of having school people, teachers, pupils, and members of boards for its 
leading characters. Even the much-maligned school-book agent is not left 
out. The action and interest of the story centre in and around the schools 
of a New York town, whose superintendent and lady principal are hero 
and heroine, and who, like all other sensible heroes and heroines, fall in 
love with each other and finally succeed after great difficulty in getting 
married, or at least impressing the reader that they will get married. It is 
a mighty good story, but its chief merit lies in the fact that under the guise 
of a novel the author shows up many of the weaknesses of our public school 
system, the foibles of teachers, the schemes of text-book agents, how poli- 
tics and religion are used to hamper and hinder the progress of the schools, 
■etc., etc. It is fiction with a purpose, and a good purpose too. The writer 
•of this >rticle picked up the book one evening and became so interested 
that he could not lay it aside until finished. Every teacher ought to get it, 
and read and re-read it."— School Record. 



■STANDARD TEACHERS' LIBRARY, Xo. 63- 



Commissioner Hume 

" Mr. Bardeeu is a born story-tellor, and his Commissioner Hume, a story 
of New York schools, abounds in pathos, humor, and fidelity to human 
nature. As a type this story ought to be widely read, and if every school 
trustee in the land could read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest its moral, 
public education in the United States would receive a mighty uplift. De- 
spite the fact that it is a story with a moral, it is intensely interesting from 
the first page to the last. Gottlieb Krottenthaler is a character that ought 
to live.''— Educational Review.''' 

" This timely little book is a decided addition to our historical literature. 
The author portrays the inner workings of early New York schools in a 
book as readable as any novel. Special stress seems to be laid upon the 
power of political intriguers to dispense school patronage among the high- 
est bidders. Even the press is attacked as not always being that champion 
of higher education one would expect it to be. Self-interest, jealousy, 
prejudice, and the whole host of meaner motives that prevailed in the man- 
agement of school affairs were gradually rendered of small consequence as 
a result of the determined stand taken against them by that marvellous 
man, Commisioner Hume. Truly no book shows better the good that one 
man can do, when all his heart and soul are in his work. There are teach- 
ers living to-day who are the counterpart of the original characters por- 
trayed in this work, who would do well to read and profit by this delightful 
storj'. The moral of the book cannot be dodged.''— Philadelphia Teacher. 

" It is a story of New York country and village schools and county school 
administration in 1875. Since, however, human nature and school nature 
in New York does not differ much from those of her Southern sisters, and 
since the ways of the wily politician of 1899 are pretty much the same as 
those of 1875, there is scarcely an incident in the story that might not have 
been taken almost literally from the history of school affairs in Florida last 
year, and it is a safe assertion to make that there is not a teacher of any 
considerable experience in the State but is more or less intimately ac- 
quainted with every character in the book from ' Mute Herring' and 'Silas 
Jones ' to ' Prof. Slack ' and ' Mrs. Arabella .' As a piece of fiction, sim- 
ply, it is a work of art and absorbingly interesting to the general reader; but- 
it is as a satire, keen and relentless, on the prevalent evils affecting school 
management and administration that it finds its highest value. It is a- 
strong and wholesome book and should have a prominent place in every 
teacher's library and on every school ofFicial's desk. It contains more prac- 
tical suggestions and hints of value to the ordinary teacher than any half 
dozen works on 'methods' with which we are acquainted. There's laugh- 
ter, tears, instruction and warning in abundance in it, and few will take it 
up but like the writer hereof will hurry on to finish it at a single sitting,^ 
but not so fast, however, that he will not leave on almostevery page some pas- 
sages pencil-marked for future study and iise."—Elorida School Exponent. 
16mo, pp. 210. ManiUa 50 cts.; Cloth $1.00 



OPINIONS OF COMMISSIONER HUME 

" We believe that the conditions it represents have been bettered i)y more 
enlightened educational methods, but politics are still sufficiently mixed 
with school questions for us to relish Roderick Hume's experiences in gain- 
ing his election as school commissioner, and the original methods he adopted 
in his desire to find out the real character and efficiency of the schools and 
teachers under his care."— T^g Literary World. 

" The features that distinguished the earlier book are present in this one, 
and the picture it contains of the rural schools of New York twenty years 
ago is valuable as well as interesting. The author's quiet humor, long ex- 
perience, and sound sense make this little volume well worth reading."— 
Popular Educator. 

"Commissioner Hume, a story of rural New York school life in the 
seventies, is a book that will greatly interest teachers. We know of no 
work that does more to point out the evils of partisan politics in matters 
educational. It is a book one lays down with reluctance and resumes with 
avidity. It is a capital •wov'k.''''— Cincinnati Public School Journal. 

"A unique story, containing not only wit, humor, instruction, and enter- 
tainment to the reader, but considerable educational history. The charac- 
ters are all well drawn and represent true life. The story is of special 
interest to the teacher, as it gives many points in the highest kind of school 
management."— ^.m^rican. School Board Journal. 

" The story shows us rural New York in 1875, and especially its ideas and 
practices in education. It describes the methods of newspapers, politi- 
cians, ministers, and book agents at that time, and as an illustration of the 
schools and methods of teaching it is of rare interest. The school com- 
missioner who visits the country schools in the disguise of an ignorant 
German pedler sees startling conditions of ignorance, carelessness, and 
vice. * * * Examinations for teachers were unheard of, and certificates 
to teachers were given by caprice. In no more convincing and entertain- 
ing way can one learn about rural schools of that day than in this story, 
and we are very glad that Mr. Bardeen has reprinted it."— iV. E. Journal of 
Education. 

" Mr. Bardeen certainly knows all about the failings of our present 
school commissioner system and he has written a story that is replete with 
many truthful comments. The story in many particulars is highly amus- 
ing, particularly those chapters leading from the preliminaries to the nom- 
inating convention through the candidate's experience's in the campaign 
for election. But it is quite true to nature and we know it is almost an exact 
reproduction of the experiences of numberless candidates for school com- 
missioner throughout the State. Mr. Bardeen's commissioner in the con- 
cluding chapters of the story is disguised as a German pedler who knows 
more about good school methods than various teachers of the commissioner 
district. Mr. Bardeen has so completely disguised the character that the 
reader wonders what has become of Commissioner Hume till the last chap-, 
ter is reached. The book is something of a severe but clever satire of the 
state school commissioner question and may do a lot of good toward imx 
proving present conditions. One thing is sure, however, and that is that it 
is a very readable siovy.''— Schenectady Union. 



■THE STANDARD TEACHERS' LIBRARY, No. 61. 



Nicholas Comenius. 

As Roderick Hume is a picture of the New York school principal of 
1870, so Nicholas Comenius is a picture of the Pennsylvania schoolmaster 
of 1860, when new ideas of educational methods began to come into conflict 
with the old. It is a vivid portrayal of the schools, the teachers and school- 
oflBcers, the institutes, the book-agents, and all the educational features of 
that period, and deserves a place in every collection of books on education. 
From the Governor of Pennsylvania, Daniel II. Hastings. 

" For the last few nights the disturbances in Luzerne county have com- 
pelled me, together with General Snowden, Adjutant General Stewart, and 
the Attorney General, to be in almost constant communication with our 
troops at Hazleton; and while sitting about the telephone and telegraph 
for two nights, the intervals have been occupied in reading ' Nicholas 
Comenius.' During that time I read every chapter aloud to my comrades, 
and we unanimously agreed that I should write you this letter of thanks 
for such an interesting and delightful contribution to our Pennsylvania, 
literature. I have always thought the ' Vicar of Wakelield ' the most 
charming book in our language. I now think your book comes very close 
to It." 

From the State Superintendent of Pennsylvania, N. C. Schaeffer. 

" Many books are made of nothing and for nothing and get nowhere. 
The book here presented is not of that class. In my judgment it is a valu- 
able contribution to our educational literature. . . . The author of Nicholas 
Comenius deserves the special gratitude of those who feel an interest in 
rescuing from oblivion the factors that gave us our beneficent system of 
Common Schools." 

Fromthe Deputy State Superintendent of Pennsylvania, Henry Houck, 

" Nicholas Comenius is one of the most interesting books I ever read. 
It is written in charming style, eloquent and tender in the tribute it pays to 
the pioneers in the cause of education, and yet full of encouragement and 
inspiration for every teacher. This book should be in every library and 
every home." 

From the School Gazette, Harrisburg, Pa. 

" Nicholas Comenius, or Ye Pennsylvania Schoolmaster of Ye Olden 
Time, by William Riddle, of Lancaster, Pa., is the latest addition to educa- 
tional fiction. While it is being sold with such books as the Hoosier School- 
master and Roderick Hume, it is being compared to the Vicar of Wakefield 
and to the schoolmaster of Drumtochty in the Bonnie Brier Bush. . . . The 
volume has in it wit, humor, instruction and entertainment. Its illustra- 
tions are as expressive as those of an illustrated volume of Dickens, and 
there is as much flavor in it as in Roderick Hume, and as much substance 
as in the Evolution of Dodd." 

IGmo, pp. 492 ; 42 Illustrations. Manilla 50 ets; Cloth, $1.50. 

C. W. BAKDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y. 



OPINIONS OF NICHOLAS COMENIUS 
From County Superintendent M. J. Brecht. 
" The book is written in the form of a story and through the medium 
of a strong caste of characters— some historical and others of the author's 
own creation, but typical of the period in which they lived— it pictures 
reminiscences, narrates incidents, describes events, and delineates condi- 
tions of the fight for Free Schools in Pennsylvania that should be read and 
read again by every one who is interested in the growth and expansion of 
our Common School system. While the work is largely historical, giving 
the reader clear and well-defined views of the great epochs which work the 
transitional stages in the evolution of our school system, the author carries 
forward in a parallel line with the historical past, a series of sage pedagogical 
comments that are radiant with good sense, and are sure to give the book a 
rating among the world's works upon pedagogical literature. The teacher 
will find its pages suggestive of much that will come directly into play in 
solving the daily issues of the school room, and suggestive of more upon 
broad professional lines that will enrich his knowledge of child-nature and 
psychology, enlarge his sense of personal responsibility to his profession, 
and inspire him to read up with some degree of enthusiasm and purpose 
the history and science of education. In my judgment, every teacher 
should make it a point to read the book." 

From Superintendent Edward Brooks, Philadelphia. 

" The book is unique, and without a parallel in educational literature. 
One begins to read it with surprise and a feeling of wonder to know the 
exact purpose of the author; but after reading a chapter or two he catches 
the drift of the work and begins to enjoy it. Beneath the stream of grave and 
dignified humor, there will be found many interesting historic facts and 
much suggestive thought in respect to educational doctrine and practice. 
The work is a valuable contribution to educational literature, and no edu- 
cational library may be regarded as complete without a copy of it. I have 
placed Nicholas Comenius in the Pedagogical Library belonging to the 
Department of Superintendence." 

From Superintendent E. L. Edwards, Portland, Oregon. 

" After the receipt of your book, for which find enclosed $1.50, I opened 
up a subscription list and have so far twenty-two signatures. If you will 
send me forty copies I will take pleasure in placing them." 
From the Harrisburg Telegraph. 

" Mr. Riddle has made a departure on a new line which promises to be 
a success. There is not a dull chapter in the book. The one devoted to the 
history of the free school fight throws bright light on those days and in- 
creases our admiration for the great men who did that pioneer work. . . . 
The characters are all marked personalities, and the author makes them 
live — we feel acquainted with them, and are sorry to bid them good-bye. 
The book is just out of press, and the few who have had the chance to read 
it are unanimous in its praise. Teachers especially will find both enter- 
tainment and instructive suggestion in its pages. We can recommend it 
unreservedly to all readers, especially to those who are connected with 
educational work." 



THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS 

Anecdotes and Humors of School Life 

No department of human employment or effort, perhaps, is more rich 
in anecdote and incident than the school-room, and in none certainly can 
judiciously chosen illustrations be more effectively used. The present 
volume by a well-known Pennsylvania superintendent, Aaron Sheely, is 
therefore offered to teachers and students in the hope that its many illus- 
trative examples may be useful in helping to enforce and impress the daily 
lessons of the school-room, and as a respite from severe school work. 

Many teachers have found it an admirable exercise to read a short story, 
like many of those here given, and ask for comments on the part of the 
school. To give a single illustration, a teacher read to a grammar grade 
the story of " Diluted Milk ", on page 90. 

" Now, children," she said, as a smile passed around, " what is the point 
of this story ?" 

" Please Miss ," said a little girl eagerly, " I think it is that if you 

cheat you are sure to get caught." 

" / think the point lies in the ' sagacious '," suggested one of the boys. 

"How is that?" 

" Why, he asked about whether it was warm water or cold, as if there 
wasn't any doubt that it was water of some kind, and so the carrier-boy 
answered before he thought." 

Thus the conversation went on for ten minutes, branching off on 
whether college-boys would like to live that way now, whether the hard life 
some of them used to live made them better scholars, whether education 
was worth so much sacriflce, whether "devour" was a wholly proper word 
to use of eating bread and milk, and so on. Perhaps no class-exercise of 
the day was more thoroughly profitable. 

" The collection is singularly rich and varied, and the volume is a 
worthy contribution to the literature of anecdote." — N. Y. Evening Post. 

" Here we have brief incident, lively anecdote, and the flash of wit in 
keen repartee. The articles are of necessity brief, varying in length from 
ii few lines to one or two pages. The reader familiar with books and cur- 
rent literature will find many things that he has seen before, but, we think, 
still more that he has never seen. He will probably sit down, as the writer 
has done, turning the leaves and laughing over old things and new, until— 
to his surprise— the evening is gone. This compilation— which is the only 
one of its kind we know of— is worthy a favorite place in the library of the 
teacher, or the general vQa.dQ-c.''— Pennsylvania School Journal. 

" This collection of anecdotes, grave, humorous, and witty, is the most 
complete and interesting compilation of its kind it has ever been our good 
fortune to examine. Mr. Sheely, with rare good taste, has selected some 
of the most side-splitting stories we have ever read, interspersed with many 
of a mare serious turn, so that both teacher and scholar may find profit and 
amusement in this volume. A strong, healthful moral tone prevades it, and 
It affords pleasant recreation for leisure moments."— i5<?n<Z^y's Book Buyer. 
Cloth, 12mo., pp. 8SO. $1.50 



